FUN MIXED FISHING AT THE MEETING OF THE WATERS
Variety is the name of the game at Christchurch, where the Stour and Avon join up
THE widely publicised ‘State of Nature 2019’ report tells of all the British birds, mammals and insects that are in serious trouble – but guess what? No mention of fish.
Has the Angling Trust been in touch with those who compiled the report to tell them about gudgeon, barbel, eels, ruffe, rudd and crucians – all species that used to be far more common than they are nowadays?
We anglers must raise our profile and let these people know that without our money and our presence on the banks the aquatic environment would be a lot worse than it is right now.
Conservationists must stop looking at fish as just a meal for otters and herons. After all, if you get the environment right for fish, all the other creatures will benefit too. Anyway, climbing off my soapbox, here’s how my week went…
TUESDAY/WEDNESDAY
Down where the Hampshire Avon and Dorset Stour meet in Christchurch Harbour it’s an all-rounder’s paradise, with roach, dace, perch, chub and thick-lipped mullet to be had on the float, thin-lipped mullet on the spinner and big bass on livebait. It’s a really magical place to fish.
I was with local expert John Chester, keen to show me some of the excellent swims he has found over the years. First, we moored the boat in the main river and fished for anything that would take a maggot. To be honest I could easily have done this all day, because floatfishing from a boat makes for a perfect presentation and feeding pattern. It made even me look like Bob Nudd!
We caught roach to a pound, some lovely dace to 8oz, perch to 1lb 8oz, chublets and even the odd small bass. Every cast we either hooked a fish or missed a bite.
Later we motored closer to the sea and tried for big mullet and bass. No luck here, but John did catch a thin-lipped mullet on a spinner, which was nice to see.
We had lots of follows from these fish, but they all turned away at the last second – very frustrating!
But the call of the float was strong. Soon we were back on it, after anything that swims, and for the next two hours we had a bite a chuck. I used my new 12ft Cadence float rod with my old faithful DAM closed-faced reel and two pints of maggots, and it was sheer heaven – until the rain lashed it down and we eventually decided enough was enough.
Thank you, John, for a special day on your boat.
THURSDAY
Spent the day sorting out my gear and drying it out ready for next week, when I’ll be fishing most days. Preparation is key to being an all-rounder, in fact I think a lot of anglers nowadays fish for just the one species because they need just one tackle bag, one holdall and a bit of bait to be away down the bank.
Fishing for a number of species all in the same week is a different story. Sometimes I get up and have to remind myself what I am fishing for on a particular day. But that’s me – it wouldn’t be right for us to be all the same, would it?
FRIDAY
My live show on Facebook every Friday is still going well, and I have lots to talk about this week.
In the winter I’m going to get a bit of a do together, so anglers on my group page will have a chance to meet up and put a real face to the posts on the page.